Lotte often struggled with the conundrum of whether the electric telephone was a blessing or a curse. She certainly did not require it for restaurant bookings because her normal approach to such things was to breeze in and take it for granted that the Maitre D’ would have a table for her.
But a huge negative aspect of the instrument was the fact that the world and his wife could contact her whenever the mood took them and force her to change her plans. This nuisance occurred yet again when Gracie phoned her from the club that day in early 1924.
“Get your fanny down her for 2pm. Your special man has booked you.”
Of course the “special man” could only be Claud who claimed that the club was perfect cover for their clandestine meetings although, in fact, it was a lot more than just cover. Lotte wondered whether Claud’s mysterious bosses had the slightest idea of just what Claud received in exchange for those lovely brown envelopes full of banknotes.
When Claud came into the room at the club, Lotte was already reclining on the bed in her red satin camisole top, matching knickers and black stockings as she felt that this would save time. There is something comical about a man racing to remove his clothing as if he is trying to beat some sort of Olympic record but Lotte was far too professional to give even the slightest grin and she managed to maintain her expression of pure expectation as she watched him.
Claud was, as ever, very eager and there was the usual breathless rolling around and removal of what little clothing Lotte wore before Claud pressed home his advantage. He was so energetic that he soon exhausted himself leaving Lotte all worked up and feeling neglected but the natural chemicals slowly dissipated from her bloodstream as the couple lay naked side by side on the bed.
Claud did not sleep and he spoke softly but precisely.
“We’ve had a bit of luck, old girl. A chap who works in the office at King Street (Communist Party Headquarters) has got himself into some bother with the rozzers and is about to be arrested. Nothing to do with politics, he has been caught passing dud cheques but, when he is locked up, the party will have a vacancy for a clerk.”
Claud was clearly very excited about his plans which included Lotte wangling her way into the office at King Street. Lotte was known in Red circles to have been a good friend of Daphne Feltenup who was now banged up in Holloway Jail for aiding and abetting the Soviet Union. Claud said that it would be entirely natural for Lotte to be so enraged by the incarceration of her old school chum that she would volunteer her services to help the cause as a way of hitting back at Perfidious Albion.
“The absolute first prize would be their membership list. They are bound to have secret members infiltrated into all sorts of places and we would know exactly who the rats were.”
Working in an office was really not Lotte’s idea of a good time but Claud was paying very well for, as he put it, Lotte to “penetrate a tight, intimate little circle” for him and her voluntary job would only be part time. A part of Lotte’s character would really thrive on working this deception and worming her way into the staff at King Street in order to betray their secrets.
So, Lotte waited until the arrest had happened and then presented herself at King Street dressed much less glamorously than was her habit. Claud had given her a cute little camera to be used if she had a chance to photograph any documents and that was secreted in the pocket of her dress. She explained that she had heard of the clerk’s arrest, “Through the grapevine, Dahling” and she was really proud of the way that she presented her anger and bitterness at how the British state was locking up so many people who were engaged in the fight for freedom. She pretty much begged for an opportunity to help and they leapt at her offer to do what had been a paid job for free.
Lotte worked in the office for two afternoons per week and she learned that any sensitive documents were kept in a very substantial safe to which there were only three keys. The keys were held by the party chairman, his deputy and Enid who was the office manager. Lotte marked out Enid as her target. Enid was a little older than Lotte and a character completely devoid of…well devoid of character. She dressed very dowdily in faded, threadbare clothes and lived alone in one room. The only time that Enid showed any sort of spark was when she talked about Mother Russia which she believed was a perfect society where all needs were catered for by the far thinking progressive state. Lotte would have liked to slap her but, instead, she did all she could to build up a warm friendship.
Lotte used every manipulative little trick which she knew to build up Enid’s ego and her sense of self worth but she was careful to ensure that all of these positive things came to Enid in connection with the ever faithful Lotte. A hustler must be careful not to spring the trap too early; she needs to know that she only asks the crucial question at the point where the prey is so ensnared that she can only answer yes.
In this case, the crucial question was an invitation to a night out on the town. Lotte explained that she so admired Enid’s devotion to the cause and the way that she had nurtured poor Lotte who knew nothing about these things that Lotte wanted to give Enid a treat. A night of drinking and dancing was totally alien to Enid’s world but Lotte made it seem irresistible especially when she painted it as a chance to, “mingle with the parasites who have no idea of how we are undermining their capitalist anthill.”
Obviously, Enid had nothing in her wardrobe which she could wear into the West End but Lotte invited her back to Dolphin Square and gave her the run of her own very substantial collection of gowns. Lotte suggested a few little drinks to get them warmed up before venturing out and it was simple to add a little something to Enid’s glass.
Lotte deliberately kept prattling about how exciting the cause was and she was constantly flitting from one wardrobe to another and from the bedroom to the lounge and also back and forth to the cocktail cabinet. This meant that changing clothes, drinking and talking were all happening at the same time as the drug in Enid’s drink began to make her feel a little sleepy and disorientated. Enid, in just her slip, flopped down onto the bed and Lotte lay beside her affecting to become ever more giggly herself. As the booze and the drug made Enid light headed, Lotte sympathized and began to stroke Enid’s face and hair and then move down her body.
Enid was feeling EXTREMELY relaxed and uninhibited and she could not keep herself from responding to what Lotte, the experienced whore, was doing to her body including her most private and sensitive areas. Eventually, Enid fell into sleep and, as they had come in a cab straight from the office, Lotte knew that the key to the safe would still be in Enid’s handbag.
It took moments to find the key, photograph it and press it into the special powder compact which Claud had supplied. The material in the compact made a perfect imprint of both sides of the key and then Lotte pressed in it edge on to complete the three dimensional imprints.
With the key back in Enid’s bag, Lotte swiftly stripped naked, lay down beside her victim and pulled the covers over the two of them. She knew that Enid would not sleep for long and when the woman awoke, Lotte gave the impression of the two of them having been part way through a session of furious, passionate sapphic lovemaking.
More kissing, cuddling and fondling ensued and, after a gentle coming down period, Lotte suggested a slap up meal at a little place she knew around the corner. Of course Enid got into the cab arrayed in one of Lotte’s finest little dresses and then they enjoyed an intimate little feast before Lotte arranged for a cab to take Enid back to her room.
The next morning, not one of Lotte’s working days, she telephoned Claud and informed him that he was going to take her to lunch. As they sat in one of those really discreet little booths at Isobels, Lotte handed over the compact and the film which, when developed, would show pictures of the key. Lotte was certain that Claud would have “a chap” who could make a key for him and she was able to set out the exact layout of the office and assure Claud that there were no alarms – quite a common state of affairs in 1924.
The original plan had been for Lotte to photograph the contents of the safe but now she asserted that she had given Claud all he needed to have one of his own people engage in a little light burglary. Part of the reason for this was that Lotte preferred to give Claud the impression that she herself would never dream of creeping around at dead of night opening other people’s safes. Now it is hypothetically possible that Lotte may have been involved in the disappearance of certain precious gems from certain domestic premises but she saw no reason for Claud to know this.
It was at that same luncheon that Lotte mentioned a little idea of hers to Claud. She had given him details of office procedures including photographs of “Received” stamps which King Street applied to incoming correspondence. It seemed to Lotte that this would enable a skilled forger (to whom she assumed Claud had access) to prepare a letter apparently received at King Street from someone like, say, Grigory Zinoiviev who was known to be the Head of the Communist International in Moscow.
If such a letter were to appear in the national press just before the General Election due that year it could be used to suggest that the Labour Government was a bit too close to Moscow.
Note to Reader: Obviously Charlotte would never commit the above heinous acts in real life but it is fact that MI5 obtained the full membership list of the Communist Party of Great Britain. It is also historical fact that “The Zinoviev Letter” appeared in the Daily Mail just four days before the 1924 General Election in which the Labour Government of Ramsey MacDonald was defeated.
